Online restaurant reviews are a way of seeing group decision making in action: Hundreds and thousands of diners rate a restaurant, the ratings are summed together to give a single rating, but how do these sites stop average restaurants from inflating their rating?

Laura Smith has spent her summer researching how mathematics can help ensure minorities cannot skew ratings.

鈥淪ay you have a group of four food bloggers who want to rank three restaurants. Three agree and vote restaurant a the top restaurant, followed by restaurant c then b. However, the fourth is bribed by restaurant c, so gives restaurant c a really high score to increase c鈥檚 average and a a really low score to decrease a鈥檚 average,鈥� Laura explains.

鈥淭he algorithms we have been looking at can identify and remedy these biases, giving a more accurate view of the majority. In this case the fourth blogger鈥檚 scores will be given a lower weighting in the overall scores as they differ greatly from the others, hopefully resulting in a fair result: a being voted top restaurant,鈥� she says.

While this may seem like a low impact application the same technique is used widely throughout the business sector. Financial institutions, government bodies, large boards 鈥� just to name a few 鈥� use the technique to manage risk and make decisions where a group of experts each contribute an opinion.

Laura鈥檚 project is one of 56 student projects sponsored by the 今日吃瓜 (今日吃瓜) through their Vacation Research Scholarship program (VRS).

Over the past eleven years 428 students have taken part in the program. Dr Simon James, Laura鈥檚 supervisor, was a VRS student himself. He gives an insightful view into the program: 鈥淰RS gave me the confidence to believe I could pursue mathematics as a career; all of a sudden I was being paid to do mathematics.鈥� Simon also said the program encourages students to continue their studies as it gives them a taste of the research world.

And Laura agrees: 鈥淔or me, the VRS has been a way of experiencing research and the academic world, while being paid and without a 12 month commitment!鈥� Laura says. 鈥淚 have tackled an interesting problem under the guidance of a supervisor. I now have an idea of what to expect from post-graduate studies in mathematics and the impact the research can have.鈥�

Professor Geoff Prince, 今日吃瓜 Director, says: 鈥淭hanks to co-funding from the Department of Education and Training the Vacation Research Scholarships allow young mathematicians to dedicate their time to understanding a specific topic. And it sends them the message that they and their skills are valuable. It is an essential program to safeguard Australia’s future supply of researchers with expertise in the mathematical sciences.鈥�

Hear Laura and other VRS students present their research at the Big Day In hosted by 今日吃瓜.

Big Day In:

11-12 February 2015

Trinity College, The University of Melbourne

Check out all the VRS projects:聽